The King of Fighters 2014 - Couples Only!
by iSakura-Hime
Summary: Another year, another tournament: with a twist. What does this "couples only" condition mean for our KOF champions? Will it bring people together or drive them further away? Will everyone find love? Has Rose Bernstein gone insane? And what's up with the silver and pink invitation! R&R. Multiple pairings. KXKula WhipXAdelheid TerryXMary AndyXMai KingXRyo and more.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**: Another year, another tournament: with a twist. What does this "couples only" condition mean for our KOF champions? R&amp;R. Multiple pairings.

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**A/N: **This funny idea came to me today for some reason. All updates will be based on inspiration and reviews, so don't forget to hit that review button when you're done reading!

**Disclaimer: **SNK Playmore is dope; which means that, basically, they own all the characters.

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**King of Fighters 2014 – Couples Only Edition**

I. The Invitation

* * *

When the familiar invitation arrived at the Kusanagi penthouse, its sole heir – the dark haired, pale hero of KOF tournaments, yawned lazily as he greeted its bringer. "Hey, thanks," he said nonchalantly as he took the sealed envelope, bearing this year's tournament seal, silver and pink.

_Odd colors… _he thought as he chuckled, closing the door behind him and tossing the invitation on the dining table. He'd have to start training again, but he wanted to spend his last Sunday without KOF in peace, with his eternal mistress – his bed.

* * *

"Seirah…" Adelheid buried his face into the crook of his longtime girlfriend's neck. It was _Sunday, _her only day off. And he wanted her to stay in bed with him while he whispered sweet nothings in her ear in German.

But here she was, already removing his arms and pulling on a tank top. She stretched as she energetically hopped out of bed.

"_Guten Morgen_!" She chirped, grabbing the curtains and flung them open to let the sunlight dance over her half naked, gorgeous partner. The blond yawned, but smiled lightly towards her, placing his head on his palm as his elbow rested propped up on the bed.

He made his way out of bed, the sheets wrapped loosely around his waist. Taking her hand and kissing it, he pecked her lips slowly, withdrawing as red eyes, still heavy with sleep, gazed romantically at his military girl.

"_Guten Morgen, mein Liebe_," he whispered seductively into her ear, making it a point to close the gap between their bodies.

"Nn…" Whip made a slight moaning sound as she pushed him away gently, yet firmly. "Not today, handsome. It's a special day!" She beamed.

"All the more reason to have a…" he paused, running one hand through her hair, "_special _celebration," he teased, running his hand up her thigh. Instinctively, her hand blocked his as it tried in vain to move up any further along her thigh.

"_Bitte_…" he begged, kissing her jaw.

"I'm sorry, Adel! It's KOF invitation day!" Whip mused, turning her face away from him.

He smiled, leaning away from her. Amused red orbs glinted with admiration. "It's really different dating a fellow fighter. You share my enthusiasm for participating."

"Isn't that what kinda sorta brought us together?" Whip smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Kind of, sort of?" He repeated, chuckling.

"Yes, Prince Adelheid. Forgive me for my peasant ways," Whip teased in turn, standing on her toes to kiss his forehead.

Just then, the bell to her apartment rang.

"Yes!" She darted out of the room at blazing speed, only to return after a moment. "Shit! No pants on!" She groaned in annoyance, as if having pants on was not a daily functioning prerequisite, but some sort of archaic ritual that no one needed anymore.

Adel chuckled as he threw on a pair of pyjamas, following her out.

After receiving the envelope, she cocked an eyebrow. _That _was an unexpected reaction – given all her enthusiasm. The shirtless blonde walked towards her, looking down at the silver and… **pink **envelope.

"Er…" that one syllable summed up Whip's thoughts.

Impatiently, Whip ripped it open. "Dear Fighter," she began to read hastily, though not without eagerness. "You are invited to the King Of Fighters 2014, Couples Only –" she paused as her eyes widened. "WHAT?!"

"Let me see that…" Adel took the invitation in his hands and re-read the contents, just to make sure it was really there.

* * *

"Oh yay!" The ice princess skipped happily towards the white haired male's room, loud knocking following impatiently.

"Keiiiiiii!" She shouted his name in a sing-song voice, turning the knob to find K' just stepping out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his torso and a smaller one draped over his white, damp hair. He raised an eyebrow at her flushed face which preceded a loud "EEP!" and the dashing of his girlfriend out the door with both hands covering her eyes.

"OUCH!" He heard her scream as she ran into a wall. He sighed, changing before stepping out. He could not get used to how bright she was, spreading her colors over the dull black and whites of his life.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he poked her leg with his foot. Kula had faceplanted the ground… somehow.

"_H-hai_…" The chestnut brown haired girl lifted herself off the floor, rubbing her forehead. "It hurts…"

"_Baka_," K' sighed, much to Kula's irritation. He then tensed slightly, watching the adorable girl in front of him pout cutely in protest.

_I suppose I should show… a more affectionate reaction, _he thought. Clearing his throat, he reached out to awkwardly pat her head. "Try not to hurt yourself, Kula."

Kula's dashed downstairs, too embarrassed to face him. He shrugged, walking downstairs to make her breakfast like every morning. Like a hungry child late for school, Kula tapped her foot on the ground demandingly.

K' took out some bacon and eggs from the fridge, lightning the stove with his gloved finger.

"What were you so excited about before?" He asked cautiously, hoping that he did not unleash the monster of excitement that she was.

Kula paused and concentrated. What was she thinking about before she had seen K' in… in…. in….

Heat rose to her cheeks as she puffed air into them before she proceeded to look down at the silver and pink sealed envelope she had been holding.

"OH YES!" She suddenly jumped out of her seat and glomped K' to the ground.

"GUESS WHAT!" She asked the rhetorical question, looking down at the annoyed K', though his eyes darted towards a rather pleasing view and his lips turned upwards into a smirk. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her down in a hungry, wet kiss.

Kula moaned, pleasantly surprised. She returned the kiss with a blushing face, tugging on his denim shirt.

Finally, they parted for air.

"Right, now tell me what it was," he coaxed her coyly. The poor girl, out of breath and also embarrassed, cleared her throat and beamed.

Then she showed him the envelope. "Ta-da!"

"Huh?" K' looked at the contents skeptically.

"Bullshit," he replied, wrapping his strong arms around her petite waist. He didn't seem to mind this position one bit, but the whole idea of a fighting tournament revolving around couples was ridiculous.

"Wait, so we're not gunna' go?" Kula batted her eyes innocently as she looked down at him.

"Of course not," K' replied casually.

_Pang._

There was a sharp, inexplicable pain in Kula's chest. Sure, she had happily agreed to keep their relationship secret – from Diana, Maxima, Whip… and anyone or everyone. But a part of Kula wanted K' to show his love openly, something she _knew _deep down would not happen, but something that she really wanted to happen.

K' noted the girl's earlier enthusiasm disappear like a wisp of smoke. Kula looked like an inflated balloon.

"You really want to enter?" He asked to double check, though he guessed that she wanted exactly that.

"N-no…"

Surprised as the moist tear that fell out of her eye landed on his dark cheek, K's eyes stared up at the crimson orbs that had begun to shed pearl like, precious tears.

"_Yare yare_…" K' sighed as he wiped her tears, rolling over so she was under. He kissed the top of her head.

"Can you stop crying?" He requested in vain hope. No luck. Kula's tears kept pouring like a waterfall. He kissed her lips, silencing her cries. When he parted, he wiped her tears away once more as the girl cutely hiccupped.

"I'll think about it, alright? I just don't—" He was interrupted by her pained voice.

"—don't want people to know about us, I k-know…" Kula croaked as he groaned instead.

"No, I just don't want people to come after you if they know about us. I don't want you to…" he struggled, "get hurt, Kula."

The girl nodded, blushing. She opened her mouth to say something moving and romantic, but frowned instead, smelling the strange scent.

"You burned the bacon! _BAKA_!"

* * *

"Father and son counts as a couple, yes? We are partners," Takuma tried to understand as he sat in a meditative pose in the dojo. Ryo, his son and brightest pupil, sweatdropped, clearing his throat loudly as Yuri threw fits of giggles in the background.

"No, Otou-sama," Ryo shook his head.

Takuma cursed under his breath. "Well… I suppose then I won't be participating this year."

"Otou-san!" Yuri whined in protest. It was so much fun seeing her dad open a can of whoop ass every year. (A/N: XD)

"It's alright. I'm old. Ryo can enter in my place," he sighed in contentment. It seemed that retirement had come early for him.

He wondered if anyone else had a similar predicament.

"Negative, commander," Leona insisted angrily, biting down on her lower lip.

Heidern raised an eyebrow at his otherwise obedient to the letter daughter. "Well, if you don't want to enter with Clark, enter with Ralf. Or Whip."

"Negative," Leona responded coldly to her father's demands once more.

Heidern crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair.

"Leona…" he finally said her name in a low, defeated voice, as if repeating it to himself.

"Sir," she repeated, saluting.

"Well then, Clark and Ralf, you two can go together," he ordered, giving them a death glare. Whip couldn't stifle her giggles that evening.

"W-wh-what?!" Ralf's eyes widened as he gritted his teeth. Him and Clark weren't a COUPLE.

Clark cleared his throat rather loudly, not to mention awkwardly. "Permission to speak freely, Commander," he saluted, earning a nod from the old man behind the desk.

"I'm not sure if _couple _means—"

"I _know,_" Heidern looked at him sternly. "But we do need participation by the Ikari team this year. Whip, are you entering with your brother?"

_I don't think he's getting it… _Ralf sighed as the hopeless Commander now pursued poor Whippy.

"Er, I'm entering with my boyfriend…" she said to everyone's surprise, including Heidern, "s-sir," she finished formally, giving a firm salute.

Heidern raised an eyebrow. Leona watched the blushing girl observantly. Ralf and Clark were going to have a field day with her, for sure.

* * *

Iori Yagami was playing cards with Mature and Vice when the invitation arrived. At first, he received it with vigor. Yes, this year, at least, he would finally defeat Kyo Kusanagi.

Upon reading the contents, with Mature and Vice leaning on either side of his head to scan over the contents themselves, purple flames engulfed the poor piece of paper.

"What the fuckkkk!"

* * *

"O.K.!" Terry yelled with a thumbs-up raised in the air as Blue Mary chuckled, watching him smile broadly like that.

Rock watched the two, stunned. His eyes darted from one to the other. "You two are gonna do it?"

"Yeah, I've always wanted to enter with Mary," said Terry in a jovial voice as she set the plates for dinner. "We were on a team once with Andy and Joe. I liked that, but I couldn't watch out for her as much as I wanted," he rubbed the back of his neck as he got up and walked towards the table. "Plus, they never gave us a quiet moment..."

"Cockblocking?" Rock offered to earn a scowl from Mary.

"Language!"

Rock rose to his feet too, walking over to help Mary as he raised both hands in the air as if surrendering to her. "Sorry!" Turning to Terry with a smirk, he teased, "So much for being the Lone Wolf and all huh?" Rock teased his adoptive father. Terry popped a vein but Mary's laughter brought him back to the ambiance from before.

"I'm going to watch out for you too, Terry Bogard," she placed a kiss on his cheek affectionately, following one on Rock's cheek as she began to slice up the turkey she had made for dinner tonight.

"Aye aye, Mrs. Bogard!" Terry did a mock salute with two fingers before kissing the top of her forehead as he took one of the seats. "Dinner looks good, right Rock?" Said Terry.

Mary's eyes glanced expectantly at Rock.

"As always!" Rock said cheerfully as he dug into his own plate. He wondered what he was going to do. He needed to find a fake girlfriend to enter. Wouldn't be that difficult, right?

* * *

Kim Kaphwan sat cross legged, holding a cup of tea with both hands. In front of him sat his sons with their girlfriends, Jae Hoon and May Lee on one side and Dong Hwan with Chae Lim on the other. He continued to drink quietly, though an eyebrow could be seen twitching.

"According to the rules," he finally spoke, earning a sigh of relief from the goofy Dong Hwan, only **one… **cou – I mean, _team,_" he emphasized as May Lee flinched, "may enter. I cannot allow all _four _of you to do so."

"Dad!" Dong Hwan whined, earning a stern glare from the Taekwondo master.

"Naturally, I would nominate Jae Hoon and Chae Lim –"

Jae Hoon's hand instinctively reached out to reassuringly hold May Lee's, who looked more disappointed than a person whose cat just died.

"_However,_" Kim glared at his son who immediately let go of his girlfriend's hand and sweatdropped.

"I will allow," he continued, "_one _team Korea to participate. Fight out among yourselves. The better team will train under me and participate. Understood?"

"_Al get seub ni da!_" Four voices echoed against the wooden walls loudly as Kim Kaphwan took his leave.

* * *

"On second thought," Dong Hwan started as soon as his father disappeared, "You go Jae Hoon. I'm not training under that guy…"

After what seemed like ages, Duo Lon and Shen Woo decided that they would let her, the Lady Elisabeth herself, choose the better man.

Feeling accomplished of their little resolution that cost them an entire day, the two entered happily with broad smiles. Or at least Shen was smiling.

Not for long.

Ash had his arm around a slightly flushed Elisabeth. He was whispering something into her ear, to which she was smiling faintly.

Upon spotting the two, he raised one of his hands and waved, "yo!"

Shen looked deflated but Duo Lon cleared his throat, daring to ask the obvious.

"You two going together, then?"

"Yep! Ain't that right Betty?" Ash cocked his head to the side with a grin, enjoying her silent reaction. Her blush, that deepened with his actions, spoke a thousand words.

"We should've let the coin decide…" Shen said in distraught voice, earning a smack from Duo Lon.

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**A/N:** Long first chapter! But I wanted to introduce some of the characters. A lot more to come in the **next **chapter! Give me couple/pairing suggestions in your reviews! ^^ Next step: registration for the tournament! How will siblings, rivals and ex-lovers react when the couples are revealed? XD Lots of humor and fun to come. Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Hey everyone! Guess whose back from the dead? Jk. I have a lot of ideas for this story and I plan to finish it soon. Sorry for the long hiatus. Please don't forget to leave a review once you finish reading. The frequency of the updates depends on your reviews!

A big shout out to those who hit that review button already: _SatellaNews_, _yo_ (thanks for the DianaxMaxima idea!), _fia3striker_, _CyberHyperPhoenix0252_ (also, surprise for you in this chapter XD), _Raquel_ _the_ _writer_, _Guest_, and finally _arandomguestguy_!

Here we go~

**Disclaimer: **Yeah, you know the drill.

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II. Getting Hitched

"One, two, three, four," the choreographer moved effortlessly, doing twists and turns like it was a joke. "Five, six, seven – _Jesus_!" He stopped, sighing loudly in frustration. "Miku-san, where's your arm going?! Aoi-san please straighten your legs! Everyone, follow Athena-chan," his tone softened considerably, earning a frown from Athena who didn't like the obvious favoritism. "Here we go again, one, two…"

After three hours of straight practice with six five minute breaks, the dancers in Athena's crew exited, some of them crawling on all fours, some of them being carried outside. "Good job everyone!" Athena clapped her hands together in encouragement, sweatdropping when someone cried "I'm too young to die!" in the distance, somewhere down the corridor.

Sighing, she looked at her reflection in the mirror, panting. She was sweating head to toe, her limbs aching from practice. She was opening the concert for the KOF introduction event a couple of days later and the whole practice routine was beyond exhausting.

"Eh?" She blinked as her cellphone vibrated.

"Mush Mush?" She answered warily. Too many fan calls these days…

"Athena-chan~!" An old voice croaked from the other side.

"Ano… Chin-sensei?" She blinked. "You finally converted to using a cell phone!" She beamed.

"No no! Well yes I'm using a phone but I'm speaking in your head."

Athena blinked, focusing for a moment. Indeed, they had been using telepathy. "Etto…" Sweatdropping, she pouted, shrugging. "Then why did you call?"

"I WANTED TO SHOW YOU HOW USELESS THIS MACHINE IS BAHAHA!"

With that, he hung up.

Before her frown could turn into a scowl, the voice spoke again, this time distinctly in her head. "Have you decided on partnering up with Kensou for this year's tournament?"

"EH?" Athena exclaimed in surprise. She glanced over to her bag, lying open on the floor. Inside was the silver and pink invitation. She shook her head and even though she didn't say anything, she heard a frustrated grunt on the other end.

"Yes yes, you are not a _couple…_" Athena winced at the mere mention of the word. "BUT you are the psycho soldier team!" The old man chastised for the hundredth time.

"I have to practice. BYE!" Athena deliberately cut off the telepathic connection.

Sighing deeply, she looked at her reflection in the mirror again, zoning out to her thoughts. Yes, Kensou had expressed her interest in her throughout the years, not missing a single opportunity. He made it so obvious. She smiled as she thought this in an endearing kind of way. But she didn't feel that way about him. She never had.

Only one man made her heart go all 'doki doki'. Her unrequited high school –

"Sir, this man tried to enter the premises without permission!" She heard the panicked voice she recognized as the security guard.

"What do you mean tried? I'm already in, geez," she heard that deep, masculine, husky voice that was none other than—!

Snapping out of her thoughts, she made a run for the entrance of the studio.

"Excuse me, do you know—" her manager began but was interrupted shortly after.

"Do you like barbeque?"

"Huh? No. Why?"

"I do," the frown on the handsome man's face turned upwards into a smirk as he lit up one of his gloved fingers.

"What the—"

"Kusanagi-sama?" The girlish voice dropped the tone of curiosity and sweatdropped, mentally extinguishing the flame.

Putting on her cutest smile, she turned to the manager. "This is my high school friend. I know him very well. Sorry for your trouble!"

Both the manager and the security guard had seemed to melt into a pudding.

"Ah yes yes, I apologize Athena-chan! Then we'll leave you to your friend…" The manager sweatdropped, eyeing Kyo with both jealousy and fear, before disappearing at the end of the corridor with the security guard following closely.

Athena took a moment to examine Kyo. She hadn't seen him since the last tournament, except on the news. Her heart did a back flip just watching him smiling politely, but not without a marked arrogance. The faintest blush appeared on her cheeks when she saw Kyo eyeing her from head to toe, which didn't go unnoticed by the man.

The silence was filled by his laugh, which broke the ice. Athena herself let out a small chuckle.

"What brings you here, Kusanagi-sama?"

"Seriously, Asamiya, you have to stop calling me that," he scoffed, running a hand through his silky, chocolatey hair.

"Ah, gomen gomen~" she nodded before looking up at him again with her cute, big, dough like eyes.

"Oh right," he pasued, looking at her seriously. "Do you have time for coffee?"

"E…."

"E….hh…"

"EHHH?!"

* * *

"Men, seriously…" King twitched an eyebrow in annoyance as she kicked the last of the drunkards out, shouting at the top of her lungs to kill the drunken laughter outside, "WE'RE CLOSED. GO HOME. YOU'RE DRUNK!"

Murmuring something that seemed to be a chain of hushed curses, she returned to the bar, polishing glasses. When she heard the door open, she stomped over to the gate, ready to kick the intruder in the face.

Recognizing the orange training clothes at once, she sighed, lowering her hand holding the glass cup which had been raised in the air to slam it into said-intruder's skull.

"Easy!" Ryo yelped, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

I picked a really shitty day to ask… he gulped, tensing. However, much to his surprise, King chuckled loudly. "That would have been a funny sight…"

Ryo smiled when his eyes met hers. "Tired?" He asked rhetorically to which she nodded casually. "The same."

"Want to get a drink?" He teased to which he earned a scoff. "Drinking this late? Should I give Takuma-sensei a call?"

"Hey…" he had been cautioned.

King just laughed. "Still daddy's boy. What can I getcha?" She pulled up two glasses.

"Wine please!"

Nodding, she poured the wine expertly into two glasses, leaning on the bar counter as she slid the glass over to him. "So, what is it?"

"Ummm…. Nothing. Why?" Ryo tried his best to mask his obvious anxiety.

"You're going to ask me something. Just do it," King scolded, taking a sip from her wine. "Delaying makes it worse," she coached him, placing her hand on his shoulder and patting it three times.

"We women like you men to be all confident and stuff," she continued to tease, close to breaking into a full-fledged laughter attack.

"Alright, alright, that's enough," he narrowed his eyes threateningly at her. "The tournament…" he began, averting his eyes from her.

"Yes, what about it?" She pressed, knowing full well what he was going to ask.

"Are you going with someone?"

"I don't know. Maybe~" she teased again, testing his limits.

He looked up instantly, meeting her eyes with surprise. "Really?" He looked slightly taken aback, but also disappointed. "Who?"

"You, if you ever manage to ask me properly," she took another long sip, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Oh…" it took a minute to sink in. "OH."

"Mmhmm~" she sighed, having stated the obvious. "So are you going to ask me or what?"

* * *

Her footsteps were so quiet, had he not been intuitive enough, her presence would have totally slipped his notice.

"Leave us," he ordered the two women by his side who snapped their head in the direction of the entrance.

"Sure," Mature smiled sadistically, grabbing Vice's hand as she led her out. On her way, she turned to whisper in the blue haired woman's ear, "you look delicious today."

Not bothering to respond, Leona waited for them to leave before she turned her eyes back to the purle flames' wielder.

"Have a seat," he said in a soft tone. He seemed to have relaxed with her just being here.

"Thanks," she mumbled, taking a seat. She also seemed to have relaxed from her army-like posture into a more comfortable 'slump'.

"How have you been… Iori?" She asked, her gaze genuinely concerned.

He smiled, but only so slightly. No one ever called him by his first name, except Leona and that Elsa girl who was addicted to sorbet.

"Not so good ever since the recent KoF invitation," he scowled, slumping in his own chair.

"Right…" Leona winced, remembering her father's preposterous suggestions from before. "So are you entering?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Are you?" He returned her question with one of his own.

"If you are," she replied, nodding.

"What are you saying?"

"We know each other. More than we ever thought we would," she began, looking out the window in the dimly lit place. "I feel connected to you in a way I can't put into words, others don't understand either."

"Then fuck others," he added after a long pause, smirking. "Don't expect any romantic crap from me," he chuckled, looking her in the eye.

"Affirmative. You don't have a romantic bone in your body," she added as a sort of confirmation and both formerly Orochi-possessed fighters shared a silent moment of mutual comfort – a kind of comfort they only found in each other.

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**A/N: **Sorry for the short chapter. I'm having midterms this week. T_T *sniff sniff* Next up is the opening ceremony. Some people are in for a real shock. More funny scenarios to happen! XD Make sure to leave suggestions for pairings in your reviews.

P.S.: I know there are some diehard YukixKyo fans out there but I really ship AthenaxKyo so I'm gonna give it a try. Please don't hate on me! *hides from wrath of fans*

Until next time!


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